Whereer I roam, whatever realms to see, My heart untravelled, fondly turns to thee; Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. GoldsmithTraveller. L. 7.
What shall I do with all the days and hours That must be counted ere I see thy face? How shall I charm the interval that lowers Between this time and that sweet time of grace? Frances Anne KembleAbsence.
Cum autem sublatus fuerit ab oculis, etiam cito transit a mente. But when he (man) shall have been taken from sight, he quickly goes also out of mind. Thomas à KempisImitation of Christ. Bk. I. Ch. XXIII. 1.
Labsence diminue les médiocres passions et augmente les grandes, comme le vent éteint les bougies et allume le feu. Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire. La RochefoucauldMaximes. 276.
For theres nae luck about the house; Theres nae luck at aw; Theres little pleasure in the house When our gudemans awa. Attributed to W. J. MickleTheres Nae Luck Aboot the House. Ballad of Cumnor Hall. Claimed for Jean Adam. Evidence in favor of Mickle. Claimed also for MacPherson. MS. copy found among his papers after his death.
With what a deep devotedness of woe I wept thy absenceoer and oer again Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain, And memory, like a drop that, night and day, Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away! MooreLalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.
Absenti nemo ne nocuisse velit. Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent. PropertiusElegiæ. II. 19. 32. Chilo in Life by Diogenes Laertius. (Modified by Thucydides. II. 45.)
Among the defects of the bill [Lord Derbys] which are numerous, one provision is conspicuous by its presence and another by its absence. Lord John Russell. Address to the Electors of the City of London, April 6, 1859. Phrase used by Lord Brougham. Quoted by Chenier in one of his tragedies. Idea used by Henry Labouchère in Truth, Feb. 11. 1886, and by Earl Granville, Feb. 21, 1873. Lady BrownlowReminiscences of a Septuagenarian.
How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old Decembers bareness everywhere. Sonnet XCVII.
Præfulgebant Cassius atque Brutus eo ipso, quod effigies eorum non videbantur. Cassius and Brutus were the more distinguished for that very circumstance that their portraits were absent. From the funeral of Junia, wife of Cassius and sister to Brutus, when the insignia of twenty illustrious families were carried in the procession. TacitusAnnals. Bk. III. Ch. 76.
Tis said that absence conquers love; But oh! believe it not. Ive tried, alas! its power to prove, But thou art not forgot. Frederick W. ThomasAbsence Conquers Love.
Since you have waned from us, Fairest of women! I am a darkened cage Songs cannot hymn in. My songs have followed you, Like birds the summer; Ah! bring them back to me, Swiftly, dear comer! Seraphim, Her to hymn, Might leave their portals; And at my feet learn The harping of mortals! Francis ThompsonA Carrier Song.